Miami Marlins and their controversial manager will get a good look in Showtime's new baseball reality series.

While we're still waiting to hear which NFL team will be featured in HBO's newest edition of "Hard Knocks," its premium cable competitor Showtime has offered a sneak peek at its baseball version of "Hard Knocks" called "The Franchise."

Showtime was smart to make the second season of its baseball reality series about the Miami Marlins (the San Francisco Giants were featured last summer), considering all of the Marlins' changes — new stadium, new hot-button manager, new stars.

And then Showtime couldn't have scripted anything better to garner ratings than have the Ozzie Guillen "I love Fidel Castro" controversy erupt during the season's first week.

In a 30-minute preview of the series that will debut in July, you get a look at how Marlins management handled the Guillen mess.

The cameras were allowed in the room when team president David Samson and the man in charge of baseball operations, Larry Beinfest, told Guillen he was going to be suspended for five games.

Samson was shown making the call to Guillen, asking him to fly back from Philadelphia to have a news conference on the off day after the Phillies' season opener.

"This is about as bad as it can get without getting to termination," Samson said.

"I feel terrible. I feel bad. I can't sleep, I can't eat," Guillen said during the meeting. "I have never felt this way before in my life. Never, ever, ever. I am sad because of what I've done to people who have been victimized by this [expletive] guy."

Guillen, those who watch "The Franchise" will quickly note, uses one particular curse word with great frequency. He can't go three sentences without using it.

And yet, Showtime goes beyond the sound bites, the quotes you read online and in print, and the "who gives a damn" bravado and reveals a Guillen that is more human and more likable than you'd imagine.

You see Guillen breaking down after he left the podium after his initial news conference and how Marlins' management never wavered in its support of him.

They showed a film clip from The MLB Network in which former Phillies shortstop and manager Larry Bowa said: "He's lucky that Jeffrey Loria is the owner," and it's true because many other clubs would have dismissed him instantly.

You also see the candor of how Samson greeted him when he returned to work and coached him on what to say in his first meeting with the press in the Marlins dugout.

"This has been the worst week we've ever had, and I've been on the phone all day, every day, dealing with it," Samson said. [But] I love you and I support you and I am so glad you're back. Just manage your game and do everything you do. I hope you're not changed. I hope you're still going to be Ozzie …"

Just fascinating, inside stuff that you get from these types of series — HBO's 24/7 sports series included — that you can't get from ESPN, MLB or any other network. So much of what you see on TV is from analysts who are only offering their opinions on what they think is going on while reality series such as "The Franchise" show things as they really happened.

The problem is that by July when the series debuts, the Guillen flap will be very old news, if it isn't already.

The Marlins' current struggles would also provide plenty of fresh material.

Showtime ought to consider getting this series started sooner.

That's what makes "Hard Knocks" so compelling, the fact that the footage and material are turned around in such a hurry.

But when "The Franchise" does debut, it is definitely worth a look.

New radio homes for Philly teams

WIP, both the 610 AM version and the 94.1 FM brand, had spent a lot of time in recent months running promos touting that their stations were the radio homes for all four major Philadelphia sports teams.

But in the last two weeks, that home became half-empty as both the 76ers and Flyers have announced that are going to rival 97.5 FM, the Phanatic.

The 76ers' switch was instant, in time for the playoffs.

The Flyers change will take effect next season.

It is clear that the 76ers were getting tired of getting bounced around. Even as the team had key games down the stretch of the regular season, games with playoff implications, the 76ers were hard to find on the dial. They were often moved over to 98.1 FM, an oldies station.

The Flyers, like the 76ers, felt like second-class citizens on WIP, which is in its first year of full Phillies coverage.

The problem for the 76ers is that they could again get jostled around by the Phanatic when there are conflicts with the Flyers.

Did you know?

Earlier this week, Joe Buck of Fox won his seventh Sports Emmy for Outstanding Play-by-Play. Buck won the award five straight times from 2001-05. In addition, Fox's coverage of the 2011 World Series won for Outstanding Live Sports Special.

KEITH'S CAN'T MISS … The 138th running of the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday with NBC beginning its coverage at 4 p.m. NBC and NBC Sports Network will have 81/2 hours of coverage on Derby Day and 141/2 hours of coverage overall beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday.